China, Southeast Asia brace for more flooding as death toll rises

The aftermath of floods in Shitan Town in China's Guangdong Province earlier this year. Pic: AP.

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Floods and landslides have killed at least 10 people in China this week, adding to a steadily rising flood-related death toll this year.

Heavy monsoon rains are expected to continue in the region through the weekend.

China’s CCTV reported Wednesday that 11 people died and 27 people missing after rainstorms caused heavy flooding in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality.

China has been battered by storms since May, with hundreds of people believed to have died in flooding and landslides.

Its Southeast Asian neighbors have also been badly affected. Thailand announced Wednesday that it was dispatching 1,800 soldiers to provide relief in nine provinces hit by flooding that has killed eight people so far. Thailand’s weather bureau warned residents to brace for more flooding as rains are expected to continue up to September 9.

While serious, this years rains are unlikely to trigger a repeat of the 2011 Thailand floods which inundated large parts of the country for weeks and killed 815 people.

Last week, thousands of people were displaced in Burma (Myanmar) after two weeks of heavy monsoon rains. CNN reported that almost quarter of million people were affected in the port city of Pathien alone, with 35,000 moved to temporary relief camps.

“The United Nations estimated that 200,000 acres of rice paddies had been destroyed and 55,000 acres remained under water.”